The Power of Meditation
Discover the healing benefits of meditation and learn how to apply it to your daily life
Take a deep breath.
Can you feel that immediate sense of calm?
Like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders, even if just for a second?
Breathing is not just a tool to live. It’s a tool to heal, to focus. Mastering breathing, and learning to use it to heal is meditation, and it just might have the power to rewire our brains.
What is meditation, you might ask?
Let’s go back 2600 years when Buddha taught meditative concentration as a key component of spiritual awakening. According to Buddha, when we meditate, we feel our heartbeat, we’re connected to our ancestors, to our loved ones, to the world that came before us.
Knowing that none of our life, even the stressful parts, would be possible without it. As we sink into our breath, our worries begin to wash away and we start to feel a connection to something deeper and greater than ourselves.
Meditation is not about adhering to any rules. You don’t have to be a monk locked up in a monastery to apply this practice to your life.
It’s just about breathing.
For me, it can be simply taking 10 minutes a day to focus on my breath, to pull me away from the stress of life and the worries it comes with.
For you, it might be a quick moment on the subway or in an Uber on your daily commute.
For others, it could be a daily hour-long session, seated on a ceremonial pillow overlooking a vast beautiful landscape.
All of it is meditation. No matter where we are or how long we close our eyes, we breathe for the same reasons. To relax, to ease the stress of daily living and perhaps to help answer some of life’s most challenging questions.
When we meditate, we exercise our brain’s “default mode network,” which is associated with cognitive control and self-monitoring. Studies have shown that meditation can help improve focus, reduce anxiety, and depression. In one Yale University study using the fMRI technique, the brain’s default mode network was more active in experienced meditators.
This evidence points to the fact that when we meditate, it’s like exercising our default mode network so it’s ready to put in the work when the need arises.
But how can all of this be possible just by breathing? What’s happening inside us is called neuroplasticity — the gradual rewiring of our brains.
Neuroplasticity is the ability of our neural pathways to change. You see, just like our bodies are malleable, so are our brains. Like muscles in the rest of our body, the circuits of our brain that are reinforced and strengthened are those that we use the most. And those we don’t use as frequently will atrophy.
In today’s world, it seems like we’re faced with a perpetual crisis, seemingly all around us. Insurmountable obstacles that are all-consuming. Things that make that argument with your partner or that tense email exchange all the more difficult to process. And it seems to be getting worse. Rumors of an impending recession, the great resignation, barely surviving a worldwide pandemic, it’s no wonder that global happiness fell by 10% between 2011 and 2021.
So what can we do to combat all of this stress and anxiety?
The answer is simple: turn inward.
Go ahead, relax your shoulders, your face, your fingers.
Feel your body grounded to the Earth beneath you.
Feel that connection to the Universe around you.
Realize that you have all the tools to reduce stress and anxiety.
To lower your blood pressure and soothe that persistent pain. To increase self-awareness and compassion, both for yourself and for others.
As you continue to meditate, thoughts may enter your mind. That’s okay! Just acknowledge them and let them pass, returning your focus to your breath. With practice, you’ll find it easier to clear your mind and focus solely on your breathing.
